


Of Heroes and Villains

by larrymylove



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, And sort of have a crush on each other, Evil villains, Fluff and Angst, Harry is the villain, Hate to Love, Heroes and Villains, Louis is a superhero, M/M, Or beating the snot out of each other, Superheroes, They are also flatmates, When they aren't driving each other crazy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-10 06:04:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4380065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larrymylove/pseuds/larrymylove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superhero AU. Louis is a Superhero. Harry is an Evil Villain (who happens to steal flowers). They're also flatmates who maybe sort of have crushes on each other - when they aren't either driving each other crazy or beating the snot out of each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Heroes and Villains

**Author's Note:**

> Saw an AU prompt on Tumblr with this idea and knew I had to write it for H&L so I did. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Comments, kudos, bookmarks, etc. make my day! Thank you! And hugs and love to you all!

Louis Tomlinson stumbled back to his flat, pain shooting up through his arm. He knew it was pretty bad. Of course it was bad. The fucking asshole had twisted it back so hard it was a wonder it wasn’t broken. Well. Maybe it was. Louis wasn’t sure. All he knew was the white pain shooting through him like some sort of drug, and that he was going to fucking kill that fucking bastard the next time they came toe to toe. Louis sighed and dug his key from his back pocket. He supposed he could go for the whole “costume” thing - leotard, tights, flashy belt, etc. But no. You’d have to pay him to wear tights. And doing a payless job already, Louis was not to keen on adding tights to the list.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love what he did. He loved it very much - or else he wouldn’t be doing it in the first place. He didn’t have some sort of flashy story of dead parents of an Uncle getting shot in the street. Nothing like that at all. Both his parents were alive and well and he spoke to them everyday on the phone like the perfect son that he was, thank you very much. It was just when he got to be eighteen, he didn’t really know what direction his life should go. College wasn’t an option. And he flirted with the idea of being a military man, but that didn’t seem to be for him either. And then he got handed a business card one day on the tube. It was slipped to him by someone in a black coat and he never saw the man’s face. At first he thought it was a hoax. The SCOSH. It even had a stupid fucking name to boot - The Super Coalition of Super Heroes. Ew. But Louis was always a curious little kitten, according to his mother, so he called the number on the back of the card.

And from there, he was told to come to a meeting in the basement in the abandoned Catholic Church on Elm Street. And so Louis, being the curious kitten and none too bright, went. And apparently, The SCOSH was a thing. He was greeted by several people sitting in chairs in the shape of a circle, sipping on pink punch and nibbling on store-bought cookies. And Louis thought maybe this was some sort of AA for the mentally insane. But he decided to humor them, and took a seat. They went around the circle, stating their “identities” and gave Louis a brief run-through of who, and what, they were.

“So, it’s like The Avengers. But...like, not?" Louis had asked.

“Sort of,” The leader, Nick smirked, “We don’t have Tony Stark’s budget. We have no flashy costumes or equipment. You can wear a costume if you want. And you can use weapons if you want. We just make a point to never use guns. No guns.”

“Okay, right,” Louis watched them, wide-eyed, “Sure.”

“I have a friend in the police force. He lets me know when they need our help. And I call us all together and we make an executive decision on who should take the call. And you just sort of...help the police out? Does that make sense?” No, but Louis had nodded anyway.

And by the end of the night, he had officially become a part of The SCOSH. He thought the whole thing was ridiculous until his first assignment. Someone had taken a dinosaur egg from the History Museum and Louis had been sent on the case. And he’d tracked down the perp - someone from The ESOEV - The Evil Society of Evil Villians. Yeah. Apparently that was a thing too. Who’d have thunk.

Anyway, basically, what Louis grasped in the last five years was that The SCOSH and The ESOEV were at a sort of turf war with each other. The ESOEV would start shit, and The SCOSH would come along and give them a good little thrashing and clean up their mess. No one was ever super evil though. The worse anyone had done had been stealing. The ESOEV loved trying to steal things - rare gems, fossils, paintings, etc. And when a member of The SCOSH faced off when a member of The ESOEV, there were clear cut rules on both sides -

No killing.  
No barbaric torture.  
No loss of life or limb.

Easy peasy. Anyway. The point of this whole thing is, Louis likes it. It’s kind of fun. And he always feels like a little kid playing Secret Mission. Which, in a way, it sort of is. But tonight was different. He’d gotten the call that someone from The ESOEV was attempting to steal The Hope Diamond. And that just wouldn’t do. So Louis had taken the call and had gone to the museum to try to put a stop to the bloke’s efforts. Only this bloke was like nothing Louis had encountered before. Typically, they would wear a disguise. Louis was none too keen on the idea of a costume, but he always made sure to wear black - black trainers, black turtle neck, black skinny jeans, and a basic mask. But this bloke he’d encountered at the museum, with the diamond in his actual fucking mammoth hands - wait, do mammoth’s even _have_ hands? No. Of course not. But if they did - _if_ they did - they would look like this guy’s. And he was dressed in fucking tights. Of fucking course. And he had a fucking _butterfly_ mask over his face. And Louis was certain he’d seen brown curls sticking out from underneath it. The bloke looked bloody ridiculous. But Louis couldn’t be too fussed about that. He needed to ensure the safety of the diamond.

And they had tussled over it. And the guy had been so, so much taller than Louis. And he easily overcame him - something Louis detested to no end. He hated his short stature- always had - but being so easily overtaken by a member of The ESOEV made things just that much worse. And the slimy little bastard had twisted Louis’ arm around so painfully sharp that Louis may, or may not, have cried out with tears in his eyes. He would admit to nothing. And then the fucking mammoth of a boy - man - whoever, actually kicked him in the balls and had taken off with the diamond. And Louis was fucking pissed.

Because that was the dirtiest move in the book. Filthy and low and immature and showed a complete lack of restraint and discipline. _And_ he’d taken off with the rutting diamond!

He finally headed up to his flat and unlocked the door. He tossed his keys into the catch-all on the little table next to the door. His flatmate was watching TV. Upon hearing Louis enter, he stood up, turned off the TV, and made a beeline towards his bedroom - slamming his door shut behind him. Louis rather sort of hated him. Okay. Well maybe that was an exaggeration. Louis didn’t really hate anyone. Wasn’t sure he had it in him. But this guy? This guy was a piece of work! He had been living with Louis for a little under a month now, and within the first week, he’d completely thrown out all of Louis’ junk food to replace it with fresh fruits, muesli bars, and something named queen-oh-la? Louis wasn’t sure what the fuck it was. He just knew it’d pissed him off. And after that incident, he had decided the only thing to do was to punish this bloke by emptying his shampoo bottles and filling them with mayo. Ah yes! That had been excellent! Louis almost smiled at the memory, but then remembered the pain shooting through his arm.

Fuck, it was bad.

He stumbled towards the small bathroom he and his flatmate, Harry, shared. One look in the mirror, and he winced at what he saw. His lip was busted and he had a black eye. Shit. No one had ever done him in like this before. It was usually just a few bruises or scrapes. He made a mental note that if he ever encountered this arsewipe again, he would see to it that he wouldn’t walk straight for a few days.

Louis furrowed his brows.

Okay. Not in _that_ way. Jesus Christ.

Louis proceeded to dig around for the first aid kit. And of fucking course, Harry would decide to rearrange the whole sodding bathroom without first telling Louis! So, of course, the only thing for Louis to do was (as opposed to actually taking a few minutes to look himself) to march across the flat to Harry’s bedroom and pound and kick at the door - with his limbs that were not currently screaming in pain.

“HARRY STYLES I SWEAR TO GOD I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU!”

“If that’s your way of trying to get me to open up this door, I most certainly won’t now.”

Did he always have to be such a bloody brat? “Must you always be such a brat?"

“Louis, what do you need? I am trying to get some rest, okay? I’ve had a long day.”

“You rearranged the bathroom cupboards.”

“Yes.”

“And I need the first aid kit.”

“Did you look for the first aid kit, Louis? Or did you come to my door and bang on it and scream threats of death and destruction beforehand?”

“Why would I look for it? I shouldn’t _have_ to look for it! You’re the one that hid it.”

“Okay, I did not _hide_ it. I just simply _moved_ it. If I come out to show you where I’ve moved it to, will you promise not to like, oh I dunno...injure me in any way?”

“Fine,” Louis sighed, too tired and in too much pain to really argue any more, “Just come show me where the fucking thing is!”

Harry opened his bedroom door and Louis’ eyes went wide at what he saw. Harry had a bleeding cut on his top lip and a bruise forming along his jaw. Louis opened his mouth to say something, but Harry beat him to the punch -

“What the fuck happened to you?” Harry stepped closer, examining Louis’ bleeding face, “Jesus!”

“I could say the same for you,” Louis jerked back just as Harry reached a hand out to touch one of his bruises, “First aid kit. Go!”

“Right, right,” Harry nodded. He made his way towards the kitchen and - wait, what? _Kitchen?_ Louis’ brows furrowed as Harry opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled out the first aid kit.

“Ah yes, it was under the sink. Obvious placement for a first aid kit.” Louis deadpanned.

“My mum always keeps a first aid kit in the kitchen,” Harry explained, setting it on the counter and opening it up, “It’s good in case you cut yourself or get a burn. It makes sense to keep it in the kitchen.”

“It makes sense to keep in the bathroom,” Louis argued. For some reason, Harry was riffling through the kit and Louis made no motion to take it from him. Instead, he leaned back with his bum pressed against the countertop while Harry was opening up an alcohol wipe.

“Come here,” Harry’s voice was gentle as he motioned for Louis to come a bit closer. Louis didn’t know why, but he did. He stepped closer, still leaning on the counter. And Harry pressed the wipe to Louis’ cuts.

“Fuck!” Louis hissed at the sting.

“Oh don’t be a baby,” Harry t’sked, “A little pain is a good thing.”

“You’re strange,” Louis said, really, really not knowing why he didn’t just take the kit and run to the bathroom and lock the fucking door. He didn’t like Harry - couldn’t stand the bloke. So then why was he letting him clean him up like this? Harry’s teeth pressed lightly on his bottom lip as he concentrated on applying some ointment to Louis’ cleaned cuts.

“You want a band-aid?” Harry asked, “We’ve got Superman or Iron Man.”

“Superheros,” Louis chuckled once, “Ironic.”

“How so?” Harry’s brows furrowed, opening up an Iron Man bandage.

“Just...no reason.” Louis had yet to tell anyone that he was in The SCOSH. And he was planning on keeping it that way. And there was no way in fucking hell he was going to tell Harry Styles of his secret identity. That just wasn’t going to happen. No bloody way.

“Would you be a hero or a villain?” Harry asked quietly, tacking the bandage on Louis’s cheek.

“Hero, obviously,” Louis touched at the bandage, “Alright, Styles. Let me clean you up next. You’re getting blood on the fucking floor.”

Harry smiled shyly as Louis dug around in the kit for a fresh alcohol wipe. “You say that so easily.”

“ ‘s an easy question.”

“I don’t think it’s that black and white,” Harry said as Louis gently wiped at Harry’s cuts. Kid didn’t even flinch once. “Do you think villains know that their villains?”

“What kind of sodding question is that?” Louis rolled his eyes, “Of course they do, Harold.”

“Maybe just because they’re villains doesn’t mean they’re necessarily bad people.”

“Oh my God,” Louis pinched his brow, “Harry. What part of ‘evil’ do you not grasp about ‘evil villains?’”

“I just think there’s two sides on every coin. I mean, maybe there are evil villains out there who just like to cause a little spot of trouble now and then for fun? But that doesn’t make them bad? Because after they cause their trouble, they like to wear fuzzy socks and drink hot cocoa before bed and like things like...puppies and rainbows and scented candles.”

“Did you get beat on the head too as well as basically have your ass handed to you?” Louis sighed, gently applying some ointment, “Evil villains are evil. Super heroes are good. It’s black and white, Styles. Literally. The first comics were black and white.”

“I’m done arguing,” Harry hopped towards the fridge to take out an ice pack, “Put this on your shoulder. You keep twisting it funny and wincing when you move that arm. Am I ever going to know where you go at night and why you come home beaten up like this?”

“No. Am I ever going to know where you go at night and why you come home beaten up like this?”

“No.”

Well then. Louis took the ice pack from Harry and mumbled a quick thanks before heading towards his bedroom. He just needed a good night’s sleep and a shitload of Aspirin. Yup. He’d be just fine come morning.

\--

It wasn’t that Louis didn’t have a real job. He did. He had a day job at the computer tech center taking calls from old people who didn’t understand simple things like why little red squiggles appeared under misspelled words. And honestly, Louis hated it. But it paid his bills. Though it wasn’t half as fun as crime-fighting. But it was a job and he needed to be a typical member of society, right? So the following morning, Louis awoke to his alarm clock blaring. He got up and stumbled towards the shower. His bruises were like little galaxies on his cheekbones and his shoulder still throbbed. He wondered how no one from work questioned him about any of this. Maybe they were intimidated. Maybe they figured some type of Tyler Durden figure had forbidden him not to talk about it.

Louis cleaned himself up and got dressed and ready for the day. When he came out to the kitchen, Harry was preparing one of his smoothies. He was stuffed leafy greens and different fruits and - were those fucking _beets?_ Really? Ew. So, so gross!

“That looks like barf,” Louis commented, taking out a pack of PopTarts from the pantry.

“And that looks like cardboard and diabetes,” Harry t’sked, pouring his smoothie into a large glass.

Louis leaned against the stove top and nibbled on his ‘cardboard and diabetes.’ “Mmm...delicious!” He said around a mouthful of the thing. Harry just rolled his eyes and sipped his smoothie, leaning against the counter top directly across from Louis. Their toes were practically touching.

“Will you be home tonight?” Harry asked.

“Not sure yet. Why?”

“No reason. Just wondering.”

“Will _you_ be home tonight?” Louis asked.

“Not sure,” Harry shrugged, taking another sip of his smoothie, “It’s kind of nice. We can do our own things. We don’t really live on top of each other. My last roommate...goodness. He always wanted to go out places and do things and I’d get dragged along. It’s just kind of nice that we can be independent.”

“Uh...sure,” Louis frowned, “But I don’t know how you think we don’t live on top of each other when you’re the one who threw out all my food the first week and insists on moving things around without my consent.”

“I didn’t throw your food out, Louis. I just replaced it with healthier options. And I moved things to more practical places. It’s called being helpful.”

“It’s called being a pain in my ass,” Louis sighed, crumpling up the foily PopTart packaging and tossing it into the bin next to Harry’s leg. Harry rolled his eyes at that and downed the last of his smoothie.

“How’s your shoulder?” Harry asked.

“Fine,” Louis lied, “How’s your face?”

“It’ll heal.”

“It’ll still be ugly.”

“That’s mature, Lou. Really.”

“Never claimed to be mature.”

“Besides, we both know that it’s not an ugly face,” Harry smirked, placing his glass in the sink. And Louis felt his neck and cheeks grow hot. Because yes, Harry was - by all logical accounts - attractive. He was tall and had a head of curls and sharp bone structure and pretty green eyes and yes, Harry was quite attractive. A thought Louis oftentimes tried to forbid himself from thinking. Then again, Louis was never one for obeying things. So he often found himself thinking about Harry and his stupid, attractive face. Not that Louis would admit that to anyone. Ever. Because Harry was an annoying pain in his ass and all thoughts of wanting to kiss along that jawline were absolutely unacceptable.

“Are you okay?” Harry’s voice pulled Louis from his thoughts, “You look pale.”

“ ‘m fine,” Louis coughed, “Need to get to work,” he pushed past Harry.

“Same. I’ll see you tonight then. Try not to get the ever-loving snot beaten out of you, okay?”

“Ha,” Louis snatched the keys from the catchall, “Same to you, Curly.”

\--

Louis sunk down at his desk and ran a hand through his hair. He’d only just clocked in, and already he wanted to leave. He glared at the clock on the wall as if it was the clock’s fault he was there. He wanted to be off and out on the streets trying to get the Hope Diamond back. And in reality, that was all he could think about.

His lunch break couldn’t come quick enough and Louis practically dashed out of there to meet his best friend, Zayn, at the burger joint down the street. He had met Zayn through The SCOSH. Zayn was known as The Bradford Badboy (a name he always laughed at saying, “See, it’s ironic because I’m one of the good guys!”) and always insisted that Louis choose a name too. Louis didn’t want a name. He liked his name. But he had supposed that Zayn had a point and allowed Zayn to choose for him The Scarlet Knight.

“Because you’re like, good and noble and stuff,” Zayn had said, taking a hit off a spliff, “So yeah, it fits.”

And Louis had thus been known as The Scarlet Knight in the circle of super heroes and villains.

When he got to the burger joint, Zayn was already at a booth pouring over a menu. Louis smiled when he saw him. Zayn was amazing. So amazing. And Louis always had such a fun time when they’d get together. And since Zayn was a member of The SCOSH, he was a good person to confide in and vent to about the things Louis couldn’t tell to anyone else.

“Hi,” Zayn smiled when he saw Louis, “Ouch! Your face!”

“Yeah. Newbie last night. Or new to me anyway. I’d never seen him before. Got off with The Hope Diamond too.”

“Yikes. I bet Nick is none too happy about that,” Zayn winced, reaching out to gently stroke Louis’ cheek, “Has he contacted you at all today?”

“Just texts,” Louis sighed, peeling open his sticky menu, “I haven’t the nerve to talk to him on the phone. A verbal thrashing when I already feel like shit? No thank you.”

Zayn smirked, “Well, you’ll get him I’m sure. If he’s new he might make a few slips here and there.”

“He won’t slip,” Louis sighed, running a hand through his hair, “He’s good. I mean, he’s a little bit of a snake. He kicked me the balls last night and ran off with the diamond, Zayn.”

“What?” Zayn laughed into his napkin, “Okay. That’s hilarious.”

“Not funny,” Louis pouted, “If I ever see him again, oh! I’m going to pound him so hard! Not fucking going to let some bloke in tights get away with basically handing my ass to me. Nope! Not happening.”

“He wore tights?” Zayn was almost doubled-over with laughter.

Louis thumped him on the head with his menu, “I hate you.”

\--

Louis got a call from Nick the following night. Apparently someone had robbed a flower shop of everything they had. And Louis, while thinking the job sounded totally lame, had no choice but to accept. The lame assignment was Nick’s way of punishing him for letting the Hope Diamond go. So Louis sighed and trudged out of his flat at about 3am. Nick had word that the perp was spotted headed to Central Park. Louis wasn’t too keen on a trip to the park at three in the bloody morning, but he needed to just shut up and do as Nick ordered and get back in his good graces.

Louis spotted him near the Alice in Wonderland Statue. And his eyes nearly popped from their sockets. It was the same bloke from the other night - the one who had taken the diamond and had beaten Louis to a near pulp. He was in those same stupid tights and he was unloading bin-fulls of flowers from the back of a van. Louis watched from behind a tree in shock as the bloke began to gently arrange the flowers in the grass - creating a beautiful design with them. And okay. What the ever-loving fuck?

Louis’ brows furrowed.

Nothing made sense. Absolutely nothing.

Then again, Louis was in a Secret Coalition of Super Heroes. So yeah. Trying to make sense of things probably should have stopped a long time ago…

“Freeze Fuckwad!” Louis stepped out from behind the tree.

“You!” The butterfly mask turned to face Louis, “Came back for another spanking then?”

“Ha,” Louis let out a dry laugh, “So you fought dirty. Any twelve year old can kick someone in the balls, bloke. Takes no effort or composition. It’s a cheap shot and you and I both know it. Now then, before _I_ spank _you_ \- like truly - care to explain to me what you’re doing?”

“I...I’m just...I wanted to make it pretty.”

Louis nearly choked on his own saliva, “ _Pretty?_ ”

“Yes. Those flowers in that shop are so expensive. We’re talking like super expensive. And flowers shouldn’t cost anything. Flowers should be free for everyone to enjoy and admire. So I just…I took them. And I’m making the park look pretty so that tomorrow when people and families come to enjoy the park, they can see the pretty flowers.”

“Fuck,” Louis hissed, “Spouting off shit like that makes it a little harder to want to pummel you. Not that I’m not going to. I still will. It just makes it a bit...more difficult.”

“Hmm,” the butterfly mask hummed and placed some more flowers down thoughtfully, “So, what do you think then? Is it pretty?”

“Uh…” Louis frowned, stepping closer to look, “Wow. Yeah. You’ve uh...you made a...what is that shape?”

“A labyrinth,” butterfly mask explained, “So...what happens now? I am a bit new to this, so forgive me. Do we start scuffling now? Do you take my flowers away?”

“They aren’t _your_ flowers. They belonged in a shop. And yes, we’re going to scuffle. And you’re going to tell me what you did with The Hope Diamond.”

“I don’t have that anymore.”

“Of course not,” Louis deadpanned, “Where, might I ask, did you put it then?”

“It was my initiation,” butterfly mask explained, “into The ESOEV. Simon has it.”

Simon was the head of The ESOEV just as Nick was the head of The SCOSH. Louis sighed. He knew Simon had a tendency to have his boys do big, dangerous stunts as initiation. Simon in general made Louis’ skin crawl. The man was literally scum, in Louis’ mind. He took on young men - like teenagers sometimes - and would take advantage of them by manipulating them to do everything he said. And Louis’ stomach always churned at the thought.

“I hate him,” Louis caught himself muttering.

“He’s not so bad,” butterfly mask shrugged, “When I moved to the city, he was the first person I really met. Besides my roommate. He gave me a place where I felt like I belonged. And I just...I needed someone. It’s hard being in a new city totally alone. And my roommate is a bit of a tosser.”

“I can relate,” Louis leaned against a tree and watched as butterfly mask arranged more flowers, “Mine can be too.”

“I guess it’s not really fair of me though,” butterfly mask sighed, “I don’t even really know him. He’s just never made much of an effort to get to know me. He always keeps to himself. And while it can be nice, sometimes it’s a bit lonely.”

“Maybe he’s just a private person,” Louis offered.

“Maybe,” the bloke sighed, “I just don’t know. If I am going to be very honest here, he’s very fit and sometimes I find myself really being attracted to him. But I know he just looks at me and sees me as an annoyance.”

“Well, if we’re being honest here,” Louis ran a hand through his hair, “My roommate is pretty fit as well. And I try not to think about him in that way. I mean, I can’t. The bloke is totally strange. A complete nutter. He eats _kale_ for fun.”

“Kale is very yummy.”

“Ugh! You too?” Louis threw his head back against the tree, “You’re the worst!”

“Mmm,” the bloke hummed, working some more on arranging the flowers as he kneeled down in the grass, “So, when does the whole scuffle thing happen? Or do we tell each other our life stories first?”

“You were the one that opened up about your roommate first,” Louis scoffed, “I just joined in because I had something to say. And for the record, the scuffle would usually have already started pretty much as soon as I first saw you.”

“So why didn’t it?”

“Because,” Louis bit the inside of his cheek trying to come up with a good reason and failing, “You um...I like watching you work on that,” he nodded towards the labyrinth of flowers, “And sometimes it’s just nice to talk to someone. And I can always tell Nick that the flowers got damaged in the process and inform him that Simon has The Hope Diamond. So I don’t think a scuffle is really all that needed tonight. Unless...you want me to beat you into oblivion, mate.”

“Ha,” butterfly mask chuckled, “Says the one I made cry just the other night.”

“I did _not_ cry!” Louis squawked, throwing his arms over his chest, “I do _not_ cry!”

“Sure,” butterfly mask just smiled, “Whatever you say, love.”

“Love, is it? Are we on terms of endearment terms now, _darling?_ ”

“Possibly. I don’t know your identity and you don’t know mine. And instead of calling you Captain Tightpants, like I have been in my head, I am calling you love instead.”

“Captain Tightpants, is it?”

“Mmhmm. What have you been calling me in your head, love?”

“Well, darling. It has been just Butterfly Mask lately. Why do you wear a butterfly mask anyway?”

“Because it’s pretty. And I like it.”

“You like pretty things then, darling?”

“Of course, love. Everything has some sort of beauty to it. I saw this mask and it made me smile and I feel pretty when I wear it. So it just sort of stuck. The rest of the guys at The ESOEV make fun of me for it. Simon says it’s ridiculous and girlie.”

“Ah, yeah. Well. Simon is as bright as a burnt out light bulb, darling. Afraid the concept of not gendering inanimate objects goes right over his head. And it’s not ridiculous, darling. It is pretty. And if it makes you happy, then of course by all means wear it.”

“Thank you, love.”

“You’re welcome, darling.”

“Funny, innit? We almost sound like friends.”

“Almost,” Louis smiled and if it was a little bit wistful, he wouldn’t admit to it, “Too bad you’re an evil villain.”

“Just because someone is an evil villain doesn’t make them a bad person.”

“Excuse me?” Louis nearly choked on his own saliva, “What did you just say?”

“Just...that just because someone is an evil villain doesn’t make them a bad person. I don’t think things are quite that black and white. I mean, you can be an evil villain and just like to cause a spot of trouble sometimes. Like this? Stealing the flowers was wrong. But I did so because I wanted to make something pretty for others to enjoy. And how bad can that make me? I mean, for Cripes sake! I wear fuzzy socks and drink hot cocoa before bed!”

Louis felt as though he’d just been punched in stomach. All the air hissed out of his lungs like a deflated football. He felt slightly nauseous and he could hear the pulse pounding in his ears as he said -

“That’s...funny. Someone just told me basically that exact same thing the other night.”

It couldn’t be.

No. It just wasn’t possible. There was no way in hell. Louis was not even going to entertain the thought!

“Yeah? I tried to explain the concept to my roommate the other night but he didn’t quite grasp it. I think it went a little over his head.”

“Over his - …” now that just wasn’t going to do, “Excuse you! It didn’t go over his head! Maybe you just are shit at trying to explain things! Or perhaps maybe it’s a stupid concept to begin with.”

“It is not a stupid concept!”

“Yes it is! God! If you steal flowers to make other people happy, you aren’t an evil villain! You’re just...ridiculous! In a good way!” Louis was quick to tack on. “But you are not evil, darling! You wear a butterfly mask!”

“I am though. I am evil. I am in The ESOEV. I have trained under Simon. I am evil.”

“Pish posh! You are not! Does Simon know what you’re doing tonight?”

“No. He’d be angry if he did. He’d tell me this was stupid.”

“Exactly. Simon is the evil villain, darling. Not you. And you just let yourself be wrapped up by him. You said you’re new to The ESOEV. Well all you’ve done so far is steal a diamond and this, right? He hasn’t asked you to do anything real yet, darling. He’ll ask you to steal paintings and to break into banks and...that’s not you, okay. You can say evil villains aren’t bad until you’re blue in the face to try to justify yourself. But love, you aren’t an evil villain in the first place.”

“I…” butterfly mask tried to say something but, crumpled back onto his knees in the grass, “I...I know. I know, you’re right okay? You’re right. I’m...I’m not an evil villain. I’m just...I’m just me. And I just felt so alone in this city and I was so desperate to meet someone - anyone. And my roommate is always off doing his own thing and is always so guarded around me and I just...I wanted a friend.”

“Your roommate,” Louis took a deep breath, “Probably didn’t mean to come off as big of a prick as he did towards you. And he’s probably sorry and would probably love to get to know you.”

“You can’t know that,” butterfly mask - who Louis was now going to refer to as Harry because c’mon. Let’s be honest here. The cat was essentially out of the bag, “but thank you. I just...I want to be away from Simon, love. I just want...I want to be free of it and just do my own thing.”

“Does your own thing include stealing more flowers?”

“No. I...I want to be a baker. Right now I’m working at this coffee shop, but I’d love to have my own bakery one day. That’s what I want to do. Not steal diamonds and paintings and money.”

“Well then stop. Before you get in too deep. I’ve been in The SCOSH for five years. I now what Simon is like to the boys in The ESOEV. Get out now before you get to a point where you can’t.”

“I’ll be all alone.”

“No you won’t. You’ve got me, okay? You won’t be alone, Curly.”

“What did you just call me?”

Well shit. Okay. Cat was really, _really_ out of the bag now.

“Um...Curly. Because...your pretty brown curls stick out from your mask.”

“Pretty?” His head lifted slightly and Louis could just tell there was small smile playing at his lips, “My roommate calls me Curly sometimes.”

“Well because you are. You’re all curls and dimples and cuteness.”

“H-how do you know that I have dimples?”

Might as well, right?

“Because, darling,” Louis pulled off his red and black face mask, “I’m you’re gigantic prick of a roommate.”

“Louis!” Harry cried out. He scurried over to the tree where Louis was adjusting his fringe.

“Hiya, Styles,” Louis smirked as Harry peeled off his butterfly mask.

“When did you figure out I was...I was me?”

“When you said essentially verbatim what you said to me the other night in the kitchen. Christ, Curly! I’d have never guessed you worked for Simon!”

“I would never have guessed you were with The SCOSH. Wow. So that explains where you go late at night and why you come home all banged up.”

“Speaking of which, my shoulder still fucking hurts like hell you bloody wanker!” Louis lightly punched Harry in the shoulder. Harry laughed and Louis felt something stir deep in his stomach at the sound.

“Sorry! And sorry for kicking you in the balls too! That was a bit overkill. But, you did get a fair good shots in at me too, Lou. Busted my lip proper and my jaw still bloody hurts!”

“We really did a number on each other, hmm?” Louis brushed a curl from Harry’s face.

“Proper wrecked each other, we did,” Harry nodded, eyes wide and Louis noticed just how blown Harry’s pupils were. It also dawned on him that in the time they were uncovering each other’s identities, that they had also revealed a mutual attraction towards each other. An attraction Louis would totally be up for exploring more into right about now.

“Promised myself if I ever saw you again I’d make it so you wouldn’t be able to walk straight for a few days.”

“Did you now?” Harry’s eyes widened even more and even in the dark, Louis could see the flush on his cheeks.

“Mmhmm,” Louis smirked, tugging lightly at a curl, “Swore I’d really tear into you, I did.”

“Think I’d kind of deserve that, what with kicking you in the balls and all.”

“Mmhmm,” Louis’ smirk was quickly turning into a smile.

“But what about you, Louis? You aren’t an innocent party here, you know. You almost broke my jaw, and you did bust my lip open. So maybe you deserve a bit of punishment yourself.”

Louis felt all the blood rush to his groin as he bit down on his bottom lip. Christ Almighty! Was Harry trying to kill him?

“You asked me when we were gonna scuffle.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Well Styles,” Louis’ smile broke out into a grin as he grabbed the boy and threw him back onto the pile of flowers. Harry was giggling as Louis began working on sucking a bruise to his neck “Scuffle starts now!


End file.
